All Things Class of 2015 Recruiting - Class Finally Complete? Nope Chris Obekpa visit

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GopherWeatherGuy said:
I don't know which one of these statements is more preposterous, but I'll stick with the last one. Obekpa averaged 6.2 rebounds and 4 blocks as a true freshman, and was in the vicinity of those numbers last year.

The whole Gophers team averaged 3 blocks per game, not to mention Obekpa is the same age as Diedhiou right now. I'll take him in a second.
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Agree completely. Just repeating some of gh's best work after I dared imply pitino was still missing a big man.
 


Go4 said:
your sarcasm and hyperbole can't be this stupid, can it? you do realize him smoking weed led to his suspension for the f'n ncaa tournament!!!! yes, college kids smoke pot. we get it. but somehow obekpa was the only one stupid enough to do it and get caught and suspended for f'n ncaa tournament!!!! that doesn't mean he should be tarred and feathered, but you better believe his team was pissed at him.

hyperbole away though.
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Well as long as you don't think he should be tarred and feathered...
 

It's not like Obekpa is an outlier among student-athletes when it comes to weed/alcohol. Only difference is he got caught. These players are no different than your typical wild college kid when it comes to the party scene. What's really important is what attitude he brings with him every day to practice and what kind of team player he is. I'm glad we are taking a chance on him, now hopefully he returns the favor and takes a chance on Minnesota. I also see it as a low risk situation.
 

I'd rather save the scholarship for Coffey and Ponds. We don't need 3 scholarships taken up with redshirts right now with one center already redshirted. We don't need 4 centers for 2016-2017. (counting diedhiou as a center)
 


PTalberg said:
I'd rather save the scholarship for Coffey and Ponds. We don't need 3 scholarships taken up with redshirts right now with one center already redshirted. We don't need 4 centers for 2016-2017. (counting diedhiou as a center)
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I'd bet we'll have enough scholarships for Coffey and Ponds if they wanna come here.
 

GameDay said:
It's not like Obekpa is an outlier among student-athletes when it comes to weed/alcohol. Only difference is he got caught. These players are no different than your typical wild college kid when it comes to the party scene. What's really important is what attitude he brings with him every day to practice and what kind of team player he is. I'm glad we are taking a chance on him, now hopefully he returns the favor and takes a chance on Minnesota. I also see it as a low risk situation.
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+1
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I'd bet we'll have enough scholarships for Coffey and Ponds if they wanna come here.
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If Buggs doesn't secure a major role by the end of the season, I think it's pretty likely Pitino will sell him on the idea of grad transferring.
 

MadtownGopher said:
If Buggs doesn't secure a major role by the end of the season, I think it's pretty likely Pitino will sell him on the idea of grad transferring.
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I'd say there's a better than 50/50 shot of this happening.
 






Keeping track of this thread title has been fun. What a strange year.
 



jaymil said:
Keeping track of this thread title has been fun. What a strange year.
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I can't imagine the exhaustion the coaches must feel with this year's recruiting process.
 

I want to but dont want to go find my post about being so excited that this recruiting class was done before the basketball season started and what a relief that was...

HA!
 

Are these the same fans that complain we are not winning enough. Lol this would be a great addition a starter a stud post player. We would be very very tough to beat in 2016/17 with all our freshman getting a year of experience and our guys that had to sit out. Wow
 


60's Guy said:
I'd rather take my chances with Lofton than Obekpa. He is actually eligible to play. He can potenially score. Who is going to score on a consistent basis of the 9 "big guys"? Murphy is the only potential guy...Fitzgerald avg 3ppg, Hurt doesn't score when guarded in HS, Gilbert is unorthodox, Buggs is an amusement park, Diedhiou and Konate aren't expected to score, Obekpa hasn't scored in 3 years and brings baggage, and Lynch "might" be able get a half dozen points in the Big Ten if he can improve, stop fouling, get quicker etc.
That's three scholarships you can't use for a total of three years to gain maybe 10 to 12 points ppg between the three of them.
Who is going to score???? Joey and Carlos graduate....then Murphy better be a 20ppg guy.
Sorry, I don't like the roster management...the evaluation of who to pursue etc
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I'd much rather have Obekpa. I don't count on post players for scoring much these days, but the rebounding, shot blocking & overall toughness would be huge. Imagine Obekpa, Lynch, Bakary, Gaston & Murphy rotating in the paint. It would be an incredibly tough & intimidating front court to play against.

Also, Fitzgerald averaged close to 10ppg as a true Freshman in the SEC. The 3ppg was last year in limited action as he recovered from the knee injury. Not saying he'll be our leading scoring, but no reason to think he won't be a 10ppg guy once he gets acclimated to the B1G.
 

Down with Goldy said:
Oh I'm plenty stupid. Getting suspended from the NCAA Tournament for smoking weed was incredibly stupid and hurt the team. I also don't think it should preclude the Gophers from looking at him as a player, nor would it be an embarrassment if they were to sign him.
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One of our coaches did time in prison for having 100lbs of weed. Hard to imagine we would turn away a player like Obekpa for a suspension?
 



Costa Rican Gopher said:
I'd much rather have Obekpa. I don't count on post players for scoring much these days, but the rebounding, shot blocking & overall toughness would be huge. Imagine Obekpa, Lynch, Bakary, Gaston & Murphy rotating in the paint. It would be an incredibly tough & intimidating front court to play against.

Also, Fitzgerald averaged close to 10ppg as a true Freshman in the SEC. The 3ppg was last year in limited action as he recovered from the knee injury. Not saying he'll be our leading scoring, but no reason to think he won't be a 10ppg guy once he gets acclimated to the B1G.
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Okay, so if you aren't counting on the 9 bigs to score, who are you expecting to produce the points after King and Morris graduate? My argument isn't necessarily about Obekpa...just that given the collection of people who is going to score the points? Who are the 3 point shooters?
 

Is the Gophers BB north of hopelessly hopeless, or is there a glimmer of hope for a real turn around?

The Gophers have only made twelve NCAA Tournament appearances dating back to 1972. The deepest runs (Musselman and Haskins) were marred with scandals.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/history/_/team1/6683

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_men's_basketball

Will the BB facility be a game changer?

They can't be losing the likes of Alex Illikainen to the stinking Badgers. IMHO, that was a major tactical error.

How do they expect to win championships with re-threads and leftovers? That is what it seems like to me.

There is nothing we can do about losing Tyus Jones. But, for goodness sake, we've got to make the NCAAs consistently in order to attract higher tier athletes.

I hope that Richard Pitino can do something the next two seasons. Otherwise, he may bolt or get a boot.
 

It is a little early to feel like we missed on Illikainen and a little early to give up on Pitino as well. I really think Obekpa is seen as a game changer with his defense by the coaches. His interest is something they couldn't ignore. Just wish he was eligible this season. Already having Lynch and if Konate and Gaston show they can play we are a little top heavy in true centers. With Pitino's style and the trend in basketball overall we would be better off with too many guards
 

Still very happy Pitino didn't bolt, but some of this is disconcerting. Justifiable criticism of Tubby was too many spring recruits were counted on. Looking at this roster, the same can be said for Richard. Reminds me of the way our Wolves have operated--just get players; if they don't mesh, what the hell? Doesn't matter if we screw up drafts or waste scholarships for the year--there's always more coming.

You can bitch about the U and the facilities, but it doesn't exactly help your recruiting when you're linked to damn near every major coaching job that opens up. Some of that he can control but doesn't want to.
 


Soo much over reaction and premature opinions. Let this group of "unmeshed" players Play one game before we decide they are a bunch of undesirables.

We

Know

Nothing.
 



MadtownGopher said:
We have yet to have a spring recruit anywhere near the level of mav.
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"We"? Who did Mav play for? "They"? Glad to see you can slam an M man so easily.

Also, you have no basis for making that claim, given the number of Pitino recruits who haven't played a minute of NCAA basketball.
 

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